Soaring sales of sparkling wine, beer and gin at bargain prices helped supermarkets to a much happier than expected Christmas, figures show.

Total sales of beer, wine and spirits rose 2.2% across the grocery market in the three months to 3 January, according to analysts at Kantar Worldpanel, boosted by an 11% increase in sales of sparkling wines.

Sales were driven by bargain prices, with 16 out of the top 20 spirits cheaper than a year earlier, according to Nielsen. The market research group said the grocers had used discounts to pull in shoppers.

Sales of gin in the major supermarkets rose by more than £14m to £121m, making it the fastest growing spirit, followed by cream liqueurs, including Bailey’s Original, which was on offer at Asda and Morrisons, Nielsen said. But the researchers also marked out sparkling wine as the standout category, with nearly 16% more bottles sold as prices fell.

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In the four weeks up to 19 December, Sainsbury’s said sales of prosecco rose 34%, while Virgin Wines described the drink as its “Christmas champion”. The online specialist sold 51,000 bottles in December, an eight-fold increase on 2012.

Matt Harwood, an alcohol analyst at Nielsen, described sparkling wine as a “key trend”, with sales of champagne bouncing back from a decline in 2014 alongside the continuing popularity of prosecco.

“The grocery multiples increasingly look to use beer, wine and spirit promotions as a footfall driver for the ‘big Christmas shop’, while prices continue to come down due to price matching versus Aldi and Lidl,” he said.

The German discount chains have won over middle-class shoppers by offering cheap deals on alcohol, including champagne, forcing the others to react with their own price cuts.

This Christmas, the major supermarkets successfully fought back. Overall sales of alcohol at the leading chains rose 3.2% in December, helping offset falling sales of fresh meat, baked goods and household essentials, according to Nielsen.

Morrisons said a revamp of its alcohol department and deals on cases of wine over the Black Friday sales weekend were important contributors to a surprise 0.2% increase in sales at its established stores over Christmas. The Morrisons chief executive, David Potts, said the booze aisle had been the “standout department”.

Sainsbury’s sales of premium own-label wines rose by 18% over the festive season, and total alcohol sales were up slightly, helping it to an unexpectedly good 0.4% fall in sales at its core stores in the three months to 9 January.

Specialists also enjoyed strong trading, with Majestic Retail, owner of Majestic Wines and online off licence Naked Wines, reporting a 7.3% rise in underlying sales in the 10 weeks to 7 January. Privately owned Virgin Wines said underlying sales rose 12% in the six weeks to 2 January.

Jay Wright, the chief executive of Virgin Wines, described the Christmas period as “exceptional”.

The Christmas booze rush came ahead of new government health guidance on alcohol released earlier this month, which advises that there is no safe limit and even drinking small amounts can cause illnesses including cancer.

Pubs also enjoyed a boost over the festive season. Drink-led pub and bar businesses were the best performers monitored by the Coffer Peach business tracker.

It said pubs and bars collectively enjoyed 3.1% sales growth at established outlets in the six weeks to 3 January. Most of that came through in the last two weeks, when many people took time off for a festive holiday.

Unseasonably warm weather in many parts of the country encouraged people to head out to the pub, if not to the high street, where visitor numbers were down.

Adam Spencer, an associate director at business advisory firm RSM UK, said: “The wettest December in more than a century failed to dampen [the] desire of the UK public to eat and drink out ... Our chief concern is that continued wet weather, the proliferation of ‘dry January’ and stock market turbulence will impact the current month and negate any gains made over the festive period.”

The British public has chosen to spend rising levels of disposable income on socialising; drinking at home, as well as in the pub, appears to be on trend.